Little history of the car. Skip to the next paragraph if you want just the facts. Parents bought it new in 94, other than 2 altenators, and an intake gasket it hasn't had anything done to it at all. I had a 98 Neon R/T and the transmission blew up in it, so I needed something else quick (neon is going in my garage soon for a rebuild and turbocharger). Parents bought a new Passat, so I bought the Bonneville off them. It'* got 87,000 miles on it and I think it'* an SE, but there are no markings on it (it'* not supercharged). Well a few weeks ago the SES light came on for the first time ever. Over the next couple of weeks it began coming on more often so I took it to an autozone (friend works there) and their scan tool would not read anything from the car. Took it to a local garage and their machine wouldn't read anything either and told me it was probably the computer starting to go out. I didn't buy that and decided I'd take it to a dealer in a couple days and let them try it. Well going to work the next day I hear a big clanking noise and the power steering is gone, the volt meter drops and the check guages light comes on. I pull over and the sepentine belt is lying on top of the motor! I looked around for a second and see that the pulley on the water pump is gone! Great, just great. A guy I work with was behind me and pulled over with me so I rode with him and got the car towed to a dealership. Since the pulley is welded to the shaft in the water pump, I had to have a whole new water pump installed and went ahead and had the transmission fluid and filter changed and had them hook it up to their computer.

The dealers computer hooked up to the car and the SES light was on for a faulty EGR valve and they told me they could replace is for $242. I said no thanks, because that seemed way too high. After checking around the EGR valve from autozone or advance auto runs about $170! So, if I just completely block the EGR system off will the SES light stay on? I've also notice a real low throttle miss, which after reading on here a bit sounds like it could be related to the EGR valve not working properly. So I guess my real question is, does anyone know where to get a good deal on a new EGR valve? Thanks,

Jason

If you're looking for a better deal than Autozone or GMPartsDirect, then you could try the junkyard. Sounds like the dealer gave you a decent price.

Was the water pump ceased up? You may consider a coolant flush, old coolant can corrode water pumps.

Don't try to run without the EGR. It'll idle poorly, and burn valves, as well as set an SES light.

Try a wrecker.

Well I'm getting an EGR vavle from autozone (it'* made by ac delco) for $125. Hopefully it'* not too big a pain to put on, haven't even looked to see where it is in the engine bay yet. Long as I don't have to take the heads off or anything ridiculous shouldn't be a hard job. I'll post back and let you all know if this fixes the herky jerky kinda feels like a miss at low throttle thing.

Jason

Well I just put on a new EGR valve, and the car is running perfect now. Before it felt like there was a miss at very little throttle (such as just barely cruising along at 5mph in a parking lot), that problem is now fixed. Also a few times it had some hesitation, that seems to be gone as well. The new EGR valve is $140 from Autozone, is made by AC Delco, comes with a new gasket and takes 5 minutes change. Easied thing I've ever changed on any car, easier than changing oil! So if you've got the same symptoms might want to think about a new EGR valve. I also bought some new wires and plugs also, and they will be installed later tonight (wanted to see if the EGR valve would fix the problem and it did). Hope this helps someone,

Jason